Let’s not join the chorus of those predicting our economic end. It is easy to succumb to the siren song of fear.

Twentieth-century existential philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre wrote, Being and Nothingness. In it, Sartre takes the position that “self” exist in a material universe (Being), but our consciousness does not exist in a state of cohabitation with the body. Consciousness provides freedom, which gives us an infinite potential for the future. However, it is our presence in time that makes us finite and ignorant. As a result, our consciousness can perceive that which is not but could be (Nothingness). Sartre believed that human existence is a condition of nothingness, which allows for conscious choices within our being.

It is this dichotomy that causes fear (existential fear or “angst” – a Kierkegaard term) since our subjective choices (in the present) represents a limit to our conscious thoughts. …